The iTech Blog

It’s working fine. Why do I need to upgrade my IBM i?

Posted on April 3, 2019

“My system is working fine. Why do I need to upgrade the OS?” I get asked this all the time. Well, there are certainly a few reasons, and without getting too technical let’s explore a few of them. 1. Why risk it? Why would you risk putting your company at risk of running on an operating system that isn’t supported by IBM any longer? If you are on an older unsupported release, and if something breaks you won’t be able to get a fix for this unless one has already…

Posted in: Blog
Tagged with: IBM i, ibm i 7.1, ibm i 7.2, ibm i os upgrades, OS Upgrades

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Making the IBM i Bubble Bigger

Posted on March 27, 2019

This article is originally published from MC Press Online. To see the original article, visit their post here. Yes, high-praise press is good. So build on it. One of the most interesting developments to come out of IBM Think this year was an eWeekarticle entitled “IBM i: The Most Amazing IBM Product You’ve Never Heard Of.” What? The platform had a flag-waving endorsement from outside our community? In eWeek? The Rob Enderle article started off like this: “Occasionally, I run into a product that just has me sitting back wondering if…

Posted in: Blog

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COMMON CONNECT: Cognitive Compurting & AI

February 2019 COMMON Connect Newsletter Features Articles from iTech

Posted on March 7, 2019

Pete Massiello and Richie Palma have articles published within the February 2019 COMMON Connect Newsletter with a focus on cognitive computing. Massiello’s article, “Your Company Will Likely Go Out of Business” covers the advantage of cognitive computing, its relation to IBM i and the importance of using your data. The businesses taking advantage of cognitive computing will grow and prosper as they execute processes based on data. Pete Massiello, Your Company Will Likely Go Out of Business Read Pete’s article here. “With so little information out there regarding what makes…

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iTech Solutions COMMON 2018 Fall Conference Speaker Awards

Posted on March 1, 2019

iTech Solutions’ Pete Massiello, Yvonne Enselman, Richie Palma, and Steve Pitcher have been recognized for their sessions at Fall 2018 COMMON conference. COMMON speaker awards are designed to recognize speaker excellence. After each session at the COMMON conference, attendees are given a feedback form to rate their sessions on content and delivery. You can read more about the details of the awards here. Below are the results from the iTech Solutions team. Pete Massiello: HMC, IBM i, FSP, & Firmware: Putting All the Pieces Together- Gold What You Need to…

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Questions to Ask Yourself When It Comes to Backup and Recovery

Posted on February 26, 2019

When people talk to us about backup and recovery, one of the most common questions is “how often should I be doing a full system save?” Given we’re about to install PTFs or upgrade the OS, my response is always, “when was your last full system save?” What I do next is show them the QSAVSYS data area to at least find out exactly when the last SAVSYS (Save System, or Go Save option 22) was done. Now, this isn’t proof positive that a Go Save option 21 was taken…

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Five Things to Consider When Selecting a Cloud Provider

Posted on February 22, 2019

Deciding to move to the cloud is often a decision made by the business; the idea is to reduce overhead and costs. With so many companies offering cloud-based services, it can be difficult to determine which one is the best fit. The truth is that not all cloud providers are created equal, and it’s important to consider several things when selecting your cloud provider. The key is that you have to protect your business. Which means you have to find a partner who can deliver the solution you need, and…

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2019 is going to be one of the best years ever for the IBM i community

Pete Massiello featured in IT Jungle’s 2019 IBM i Predictions Article

Posted on January 23, 2019

With 2019 upon us, it’s natural for one to wonder what’s in store for IBM i in the upcoming year. According to iTech President, Pete Massiello, the outlook for IBM i is looking good for this year. How good? “2019 is going to be one of the best years ever for the IBM i community,” Massiello writes. “IBM has publicly stated (see chart below), that the next version of IBM i, currently called iNext, is coming out sometime this year. I have seen what is in this release, and in…

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Pete Massiello, Richie Palma, and Steve Pitcher of iTech Solutions Named IBM Champions for 2019

Posted on January 11, 2019

It’s a time to celebrate for the iTech Solutions team. Pete Massiello, Richie Palma, and Steve Pitcher have been selected as IBM Power Champions for 2019. An IBM Champion, according to the IBM Champion website, means to “demonstrate both expertise in and extraordinary support and advocacy for IBM technology, communities, and solutions.” IBM Champions for Power Systems is one of six designated business areas included in the IBM Champions program and is one of smallest in size. Pete, Steve, and Richie were all brought into the program when there were…

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Richie Palma of iTech Solutions Featured in Fresche Thinking

Posted on December 7, 2018

Dani Szwarc interviews Richie Palma of iTech Solutions. Richie, a Tech Solutions Consultant and IBM Champion, provides Dani with a fresh perspective on IBM Power Systems and the IBM i community as a whole. See the interview here.

Posted in: Blog, iTech Announcements

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End of Support Transition Options for IBM POWER6 and POWER7

End of life for IBM POWER6 and POWER7

Posted on November 26, 2018

If you run IBM i on IBM Power Systems, this will hopefully come as a friendly reminder. IBM has discontinued hardware support on POWER6 machines, followed by end of support for POWER7 at end of Q3 2019. You can find details on servers affected by the service discontinuation in the below announcement. Services withdrawal: Declaration of a plan to discontinue lease, rental, and maintenance services for selected machines IBM United States Withdrawal Announcement 917-163 – September 19, 2017. What This Means For the folks still running on older P6 and P7…

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6 Steps to Execute an IBM i Security Project

5 Ways To Protect Your Sensitive Data on IBM i

Posted on

Regulations (FISMA, HIPPA, SOX, and more) are forcing companies to evaluate how they protect their sensitive data. Industries such as finance, insurance, and healthcare have the most pressure to comply with these regulations which are geared towards protecting consumers private information. The issue is that companies may not understand how to properly secure their data to protect their consumers. Any good security plan takes a layered approach to protect data. You have to consider where the data resides and how someone could gain access to it. Then you have to put…

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Richie Palma and Yvonne Enselman Advocate for the Future of IBM i in IBM Systems Magazine

Posted on November 9, 2018

iTech Solutions’ team members Richie Palma and Yvonne Enselman have been featured in the November 2018 issue of IBM Systems Magazine, advocating for developing young talent and women in the IBM i community. Richie Palma, who is an IBM i Tech Solutions Consultant at iTech Solutions and IBM Champion for Power Systems, is a younger member of the IBM i community himself. In the article, Developing the Future, he expressed the need to encourage young new IBM i developers. “Retirement is bringing in new people and new ideas to IBM…

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A Disaster Recovery Perfect Storm

Posted on October 24, 2018

Last week I had a customer with a downed POWER5 system due to hardware failure. The situation: The system bezel said that it couldn’t find the disk drives which could’ve been a number of failing parts. This system had a single disk drive mirrored to another. The backup was questionable (i.e., the customer couldn’t guarantee what was on it) on ¼ inch tapes so it was not really compatible with current technology. Also, the customer did not have an active hardware/software maintenance contract. The system was set up for operations…

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The Scary Truth About IBM i Security Pushbacks

Posted on October 12, 2018

If you’re looking to make improvements to your IBM i security, then you need to be able to get your whole team on the same page, which sometimes can mean common oppositions. But, does your team know the scary truth on the other side of those rebuttals? Here are a number of counterpoints to help you make security a priority in your shop. 1. We trust our employees It is important to hire those you trust and to maintain relationships to continuing to vet security worthiness. However, realism is called…

Posted in: Blog, Security
Tagged with: IBM i, ibm i security, IBM Power Systems, Security

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How to Evaluate Your Managed Service’s Needs

Posted on September 25, 2018

Managed Services can be tailored to fit the needs of your business, which means you need to evaluate where a third party provider can provide you with the most benefits. Identifying where you have vulnerabilities or gaps with your system administration is the easiest place to start. When building your case for managed services, we recommend you focus on three key areas: Your resources Their available time Skills gaps Existing System Administrator Resources Do you have only one IBM i System Administrator? Is this person a dedicated System Administrator? Replacing…

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The iTech Blog

It’s working fine. Why do I need to upgrade my IBM i?

Making the IBM i Bubble Bigger

February 2019 COMMON Connect Newsletter Features Articles from iTech

iTech Solutions COMMON 2018 Fall Conference Speaker Awards

Questions to Ask Yourself When It Comes to Backup and Recovery

Pete Massiello featured in IT Jungle’s 2019 IBM i Predictions Article

Pete Massiello, Richie Palma, and Steve Pitcher of iTech Solutions Named IBM Champions for 2019

Richie Palma of iTech Solutions Featured in Fresche Thinking

End of life for IBM POWER6 and POWER7

5 Ways To Protect Your Sensitive Data on IBM i

Richie Palma and Yvonne Enselman Advocate for the Future of IBM i in IBM Systems Magazine

A Disaster Recovery Perfect Storm

The Scary Truth About IBM i Security Pushbacks

How to Evaluate Your Managed Service’s Needs

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